Vizag govt land regularisation scheme gets poor response

Andhra Pradesh government has drawn up a plan to distribute one lakh acres of land to landless poor in the state on November 1, a state minister said today.VISAKHAPATNAM: The government’s scheme to regularise encroached land in urban areas received a poor response because of the lack of awareness among the people, district collector N Yuvaraj said on Thursday.

The state government had initiated a scheme on August 15 to regularise encroachments of up to 100 sq yd on government land in urban areas. However, the concerned department failed to conduct proper awareness campaigns, as a result of which the district administration received only 1,681 applications.

As per a survey by GVMC authorities and tehsildars, the district administration had been expecting around 75,000 people to apply for regularisation under two categories as part of the scheme. It was expecting 60,000 beneficiaries in the unobjectionable land category and another 15,000 in the objectionable government land category. To implement this scheme, the district officials had also installed a separate software.

As per the government order, only encroachers who had constructed a permanent or temporary structure before January 1, 2014 in the unobjectionable and objectionable lands could avail of the scheme and the regularization could be done only in the name of a woman in the family. Also the encroachments could not be on land belonging to ponds, nalas, geddas, burial grounds and masterplan land.

The government had also decided to allow the beneficiaries to sell the land after two years of regularisation. Those occupying up to 100 square yards government land were also required to submit proof such as ration card, Aadhaar card, electricity or property tax in Mee Seva centres before December 15.